Creating a new material has long been either an accident or a matter of trial and error. Steel, for instance, was developed over hundreds of years by people who didn’t know why what they were doing worked (or didn’t work). Generations of blacksmiths observed that iron forged in charcoal was stronger than iron that wasn’t, and iron that was forged in a very high-temperature, charcoal-fired furnace and rapidly cooled was even stronger, and so on.

Gensler’s U.S. Workplace Survey 2016 is the latest in a series that builds on more than a decade of research. The company, an integrated architecture, design, planning and consulting firm, started that journey in 2005 by uncovering a link between a better-designed work environment and performance.

Color is a big differentiator in the world of 3D scanning, but when it comes to inspection or reverse engineering, it’s usually not mandatory and sometimes not even important. However, color is paramount in applications such as heritage preservation, which is the 3D scanning and digitization of artifacts for preservation, analysis, and virtual museums.

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence recently released the latest system in its 3D optical scanner portfolio, the BLAZE 600M. The solution is similar to structured light but comprised of a blended combination of technologies that allow it to be faster and more accurate than traditional structured-light systems.

An explanation of how the systems works begins with how it reconstructs point cloud data using built-in, multiple-image acquisition modes.

A new publication from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides a basic model aimed at helping researchers better understand the internet of things (IoT) and its security challenges.

Examples of IoT systems include a smart electric grid, a home controlled by sensors, self-driving cars, smart factories, and heart health monitors.

As I peer into the cardboard box NIST researcher Amanda Forster holds out for me, I can’t help thinking that this mild-mannered materials scientist has an impressive collection of shivs.

Forster’s collection of handmade prison weapons include a ballpoint pen with a razor embedded in the shaft and a toothbrush—originally designed to be gentle on your gums—that’s been reengineered to easily puncture flesh. They are vivid evidence of a scary fact of prison life: Anything can be turned into a weapon.

Ever waited way too long at your doctor’s office for an appointment to start? Those long waits may soon be over. A schedule-optimizing software developed by MIT spinout Arsenal Health gets more patients seen more quickly and could soon be used by thousands of healthcare providers across the country.

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Have you seen the recent commercial where a young son tells his parents that he’s going to work for GE—as a software developer? Their response was one of bewilderment. In their minds, GE is a manufacturer. The commercial exemplifies the idea that the mental models of leaders—their attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs—create organizational and industry models as well as customer and investor perceptions. In this case, the mental model behind GE has been rooted in manufacturing for decades.

The world is using its natural resources at an ever-increasing rate. Worldwide, annual extraction of primary materials—biomass, fossil fuels, metal ores, and minerals—tripled between 1970 and 2010. People in the richest countries now consume up to 10 times more resources than those in the poorest nations.